16 TEQUESTA


 As South Florida underwent its first boom, optimism ran high
and people were excited. Flagler, however, was going through what
was to be the worst time in his life. He married his second wife, Ida
Alice Shourds, on June 5, 1883. The early days of their marriage
were happy, but by 1894, Flagler began to notice peculiarities in her
behavior. She began making wild claims and accusations to Flagler's
doctor and personal friend, George S. Shelton. She claimed that
prominent New Yorkers were involved in many varieties of nefarious
conduct. After consulting a ouija board in early October 1895, Mrs.
Flagler decided that she was in love with the czar of Russia and
would marry him after her husband's death. So strong were her
claims of love for the czar that Dr. Shelton became concerned for
Flagler's life. On October 24, 1894, he called in two mental health
specialists to visit with the Flaglers at their New York residence.
Mrs. Flagler repeated her claim that she was engaged to be married
to the czar and added that the house was filled with Russian spies.46
 The diagnosis was delusionaryy insanity" and the physicians
recommended that she be committed to a sanitarium. She was taken
by force on that day and sent to an institution. The following day, Dr.
Shelton wrote to Flagler's friend, Dr. Andrew Anderson in St. Au-
gustine, insisting that Flagler visit Florida to get his mind off his
personal life. Flagler agreed to leave for the Sunshine State the
following week. Dr. Shelton added that Flagler was "almost pros-
trated with grief and anxiety."47
 While the date October 24, 1895, brought "grief and anxiety" to
Flagler, it would represent the legal date that Julia Tuttle would see
that her dreams had begun to be fulfilled. On that day, the agreement
that was to become known as Miami's "birth certificate," was drawn
up. The typed contract set forth the items previously agreed upon by
Flagler and Tuttle.48
 At that time in October 1895, Miami was recovering from the
effects of a tropical storm that moved through the area three days
earlier, uprooting trees and causing inhabitants to move their boats up
river for safety.49 One report claimed that the wind blew the water
out of Biscayne Bay "until it could be waded."50 West Palm Beach
suffered more severely from the storm as several wharfs were de-
stroyed and the piledriver employed in the construction of a railroad
bridge across Lake Worth from West Palm Beach to Palm Beach
was sunk,5 At the time, Surveyor Knowlton was in Miami studying
the area in order to begin platting the town site of Miami, and W. C.